The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA) power outage on Sunday night has been apologized for by the Kenya Airports Authority (KAA) to passengers and stakeholders.

The Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) linked the statewide blackout that resulted in the outage at the airport to a “suspected fault affecting the power system.”

KAA reports that as a result of the interruption, the backup generators failed to start immediately, leaving the airport in complete darkness.

“Over the past week, our generator system at JKIA has undergone rigorous testing to ensure continuous and reliable power supply. Despite these efforts, during tonight’s power outage, two of our four generators, specifically those serving Terminals IA and 1E, failed to immediately activate,” KAA said in a statement on December 10, 2023. 

The authorities said that the JKIA Tower and Runway, as well as the remainder of the airport, continued to be completely operational, with the exception of Terminals 1A and 1E.

“Our technical team responded swiftly to the situation, and we are pleased to report that the fault was rectified quickly. Power was fully restored to the affected terminals,” it stated, adding that they have “have initiated a comprehensive investigation to identify the root cause of the generator failure.”

Since this is the third power outage that the airport has had in the last three months, KAA said it will take the required actions to sustain and enhance its services and facilities.

However, KPLC said in its update at 2:17 am that all areas of Nairobi, including the majority of the city, the Mt. Kenya region, South Nyanza, Western, Central, and North Rift, and North Eastern, have returned to normal.